Lahore Stories: A little bit of both
By Ayesha Javed Akram


Her hair is pulled back tightly to form an untidy bun at the back of her head. Though dressed in sweat pants and a frayed black t-shirt, her eyes are dramatically made up with coats of lilac eye shadow and heavy mascara, the lids thickly outlined by brown eyeliner. Dangling silver earrings descend down to her shoulders, and multi-coloured glass bangles cover her arms from the slim wrists to the bony elbows. Her toenails are painted pink, her fingernails red. Henna decorates her palm. Its almost as if she has taken extra care to appear feminine – as if she wants to show that she is a woman.